Midfielder to miss Magpies’ final match

Ki Sung-yueng will miss the final Premier League game of the season at Fulham on Sunday as United aim to beat last year’s points tally.

Magpies manager Rafa Benitez confirmed that the South Korean midfielder, who picked up a knee injury following Newcastle’s 3-2 defeat to Liverpool a week ago, is unavailable for the trip to west London.

DeAndre Yedlin has undergone surgery to repair a groin injury and joins Sean Longstaff, who suffered a knee ligament injury earlier this season – on the long-term casualty list.

Benitez, whose side could eclipse their points total from last season with a win – admitted his squad will target a strong finish to their campaign.

He said: ‘We have more or less the same problems that we had before.

The kind of injuries they have, they will not be ready.

We have also lost Ki, who has a knee problem.

It is not very serious but we don’t want to take the risk.

‘We have one game to play and we have to try to do well.

We can finish one position higher in the table and we will try to do that.

‘It will not be an easy game but you still have to be fair with the professionals who have been working so hard for the whole season.

We have to approach the game with the same mentality and try to win.

‘I have the same feeling as when we played against Liverpool – we are professionals and we will try to do our best.

(At the end of the season), when you have players with little knocks, you don’t want to take risks with them.’